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Providing and Receiving Feedback

Grant Wiggins describes feedback as 'information about how we are doing in our efforts to reach a goal' (2012, p. 11). Providing and requesting feedback are two important practices in any educational context.

Provide effective feedback

Providing effective feedback is a skill that takes practice to develop. It can be easy to fall into the habit of providing vague commentary on student work that does not give much insight into what steps can be taken next ('Good work', for example). Wiggins (2012) identifies seven characteristics of effective feedback that can serve as useful guidelines (pp. 13-16): 

  • Goal referenced: Effective feedback is directly related to a goal and whether the individual is 'on track' in achieving that goal.
  • Tangible and transparent: Learners need to be clear on what the specific goals of a task are as well as the indicators of success.
  • Actionable: Effective feedback includes realistic steps that the individual can follow in order to improve their performance.
  • User-friendly: Feedback should be communicated in a manner that can be understood by the person who is receiving it. Too much feedback can be ineffective, as can feedback that is overly complicated.
  • Timely: Wiggins makes the note that feedback should be 'timely' though not necessarily 'immediate.' The learner should be given time to complete the task and process the experience. That said, feedback is most effective when it is provided sooner rather than later, so it can be applied to future learning.
  • Ongoing: Frequent opportunities to receive and apply feedback are beneficial to learning. 
  • Consistent: Conflicting feedback causes confusion. In order to promote consistency in the feedback that is provided, all student work can be reviewed as a whole and detailed rubrics and guidelines can be used.

Use a variety of methods that work for you 

The methods used to provide feedback can vary. You can be creative in the ways that opportunities for feedback are built into your course. Examples include:

  • Audio feedback: Turnitin’s voice notes and other free software, such as Audacity and Kaltura, can be used to provide more personalized feedback on student work. This is becoming a more popular option amongst instructors at Ontario Tech University.
  • Video feedback: Tools like Kaltura and Camtasia can be used to provide either individualized feedback or a summary of feedback for an entire class. This is especially useful in online classes or large classes where time to provide detailed individualized feedback is limited.
  • Rubrics: Interactive rubrics within the learning management system can be used to select from a list of criteria and indicators of performance and add additional personalized feedback. This can also be done more manually with Word or PDF versions that can be highlighted and submitted to students with their work. It is ideal to allow students to see rubrics before they have submitted their work. 
  • Peer feedback: Providing students opportunities to practice providing feedback is another option. This can be done manually or you can consider using tools such as the Turnitin PeerMark assignment type or the Peer Review feature in Canvas. Discussing qualities of effective feedback and providing exemplars are good strategies to follow before sending students on their way to give others feedback. In some cases, a grade might be provided for the quality of feedback given.

Collect feedback on your teaching

The following tips are a summary of those provided in the November 2014 issue of Speaking of Learning on collecting feedback:

  • Determine the questions you would like to ask: Narrow your questions down to a few key ones. Too many, and students may not take the time to answer and you may not have the time to analyze all your data effectively. The stop/start/continue method is one example: What is one thing I should start doing? What is one thing I should stop doing? What is one thing I should continue doing?  If you have more specific questions regarding certain aspects of your course, including teaching strategies that are used, you might also address those in your questions.
  • Choose a way to collect feedback: There a number of ways to collect feedback: anonymous online surveys (in the LMS, Google Forms or Survey Monkey), index cards, paper-based surveys and sticky notes, as examples. Allowing students to respond anonymously is recommended as they may be uncomfortable providing honest feedback about the course or your teaching methods if responses are linked to names.
  • Pick an appropriate time to ask for feedback: Keane (2005) warns of the possibility of ‘feedback fatigue.’ Select a few key moments to request feedback. After students have settled into the course is an ideal time, as there is still time to make adjustments. Based on the specific areas in which you are hoping to receive feedback, you might choose other times to request teaching feedback or feedback about the course as a whole.
  • Talk to students about the qualities of effective feedback: The ability to provide tactful, constructive feedback is a skill that can take time to develop. It is important to talk to your students about what constitutes effective feedback before requesting that they provide it. Giving examples of poor and effective feedback can be helpful.
  • Take the time to reflect on the feedback you receive: It is important to demonstrate that you have taken the feedback you received into consideration and are willing to make changes where appropriate. One strategy is to summarize the feedback that was received and explain how you can or cannot address the suggestions that were made. For example, you may not be able to make certain changes if they relate to details that are included on the course outline, will comprise your ability to be fair to all students, or are directly related to university policy.

Help and Support

  • Classroom observations from individuals who are external to the course can also be helpful. If you are interested in having a Faculty Development Officer from the Teaching and Learning Centre visit your class, please fill out the support request form
  • We can meet with you to discuss your class, teaching philosophy, any challenges you are encountering in the course and areas in which you are hoping to receive feedback.  We respect confidentiality and are here to support members of the teaching community in this way.
  • You might also consider asking a peer to observe one of your classes to provide you with feedback.  
  • The Teaching Squares program serves as another opportunity to not only welcome peers to attend one of your classes but also gain the experience of attending a few classes as an observer. 

References